Recent content by noctivagant

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  1. noctivagant

    Say Hello to My Little Friend...

    That's a beauty! Glad it smokes well. I've yet to have a bad smoke out of any of my meers. I've had my eye on a nice smooth, traditional meer since all of mine are carved except my blue IMP Cutty.
  2. noctivagant

    Another Fred Bass Estate

    Thanks for well-wishes. I smoked my first bowl out of it last night, some Dunbar I opened for filling a box pass earlier in the day. It was a fine tobacco and with the depth of the chamber was a good 1.5 hour smoke. I could really feel the flavor building after the first 20 minutes and it kept...
  3. noctivagant

    Another Fred Bass Estate

    Fred Bass Horn Inspired by Anthony's wonderful claw pick up, I checked out the Fred Bass Estate pipes still up on eBay. I settled on this wonderful horn shape, partly because I've always wanted a horn pipe and partly because it looked to have some coloring. It's a beautiful pipe in person and...
  4. noctivagant

    What Exactly Does a Lakeland Ghost Smell Like?

    First I've heard of the coffee soak, sounds like an idea. I have heard of burying a Meerschaum in a jar of baking soda for a week or better to clean up a foul odor that was stubborn.
  5. noctivagant

    Fred Bass Meerschaum Arrived!

    I think I will crack one this weekend, I should be wrapped up on this HotW by then. I think I'll try my younger can first and see how it suits me. Have you tried Grey Havens? I've got a couple aging cans of that as well from a rampant McClelland-acolypse buying spree.
  6. noctivagant

    What's Stoving and Dark-Fired?

    I should add that dark-fired now almost universally means Kentucky, which is burley that is fire instead of air-cured. In times past, burleys and Virginias we're both fire-cured depending on the variety and region. Southside Virginia where I grew up had a deep tradition of fire-curing dark...
  7. noctivagant

    What's Stoving and Dark-Fired?

    I grew up farming tobacco with my dad and we raised dark Virginia tobacco that we fire-cured. We used 150 year old barns and dad had his own mixture of oak, hickory and whatever else he stoked the fires with. He'd have to go stoke the fire in the middle of the night to keep them smoldering. He'd...
  8. noctivagant

    Fred Bass Meerschaum Arrived!

    As another aside. Anthony, what do you think of Deep Hollow? I've got some aging tins with 8 years on em I haven't dug into yet. I'm not much of aromatic smoker and the whim hasn't hit me to crack them or trade em.
  9. noctivagant

    Fred Bass Meerschaum Arrived!

    As an aside, and as one new to the experience of Meerschaums and one who's found his writings on the subject without peer, I just a few minutes ago found out about Fred's passing while hunting for his contact information with the purpose of picking his brain. My condolences to those who knew...
  10. noctivagant

    Fred Bass Meerschaum Arrived!

    Wow, that is truly gorgeous! Enjoy your new friend!
  11. noctivagant

    Blue Meerschaum

    @smittyd, it is considered a cutty with the little foot and the forward cant to the bowl. I've always been drawn to the shape of cuttys for some reason. It's not a very utilitarian shape in meer, it's a bit too light unsmoked to sit, but I'm hoping that once it's smoked some that it'll be heavy...
  12. noctivagant

    Blue Meerschaum

    Thank you folks for the input and feedback! I'm looking forward to squeezing in a bowl before work today.
  13. noctivagant

    Blue Meerschaum

    Thank you, jpmcwjr! Not sure why I couldn't get that to work.
  14. noctivagant

    Blue Meerschaum

    *tried embedding the image again.
  15. noctivagant

    Blue Meerschaum

    I just opened my 12th anniversary present from the wife and found this beautiful blue meerschaum pipe she picked up on SmokingPipes. This is my first meer of any quality (ie block, not pressed). I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with a colored meer like this, I've seen very old...